Shipboard entertainment

[billdadm]

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

[George C]

48 minutes ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

Most ships have varied artist , what ship are you sailing some are way better than others . 

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

Oasis Class ships have all that and more, performers are switched out every couple of weeks or months.

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

 

Entertainment offerings vary by cruise line.  HAL's entertainment has been downgraded as to the variety available bit by bit over the years.  Princess's entertainment has been more consistent as to variety.  With the arrival of the Royal Class ships, the Princess Patters is full of options.  MSC was a major surprise for me because they had the widest variety of entertainment that I have recently experienced.  From a solo pianist playing soft music to full blown stage shows with small combos of different music styles and even a condensed version of an opera with male/female leads who had quality opera type voices.  

[George C]

Definitely agree on Oasis class is the best,  we were also pleasantly surprised of quality of the entertainment in MSC , even better if you were in yacht club.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

some line still have those

Try Crystal they still have comedians & magicians

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

 

Our preferred cruise line, still has 2 guest entertainers onboard, in addition to the regular performers. Each guest entertainers performs 2 separate shows and they change every week to 10 days, depending on the itinerary.

[rkacruiser]

One of the highlights of my world cruise was the diversity of entertainment that was provided during the cruise.  Leaving Fort Lauderdale, Regis Philbin and his wife were aboard and provided a quality show before they left.  The Osmond Brothers came aboard later in the cruise and were excellent.  Many others, both as lecturers as well as performers, were employed.  Some were excellent to interesting; one ought to have been put in a raft and set adrift.  All she could do was "name drop" of whom she had met and interviewed and revealed nothing about anything.  

[CruiserBruce]

4 hours ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

Had all of those things on our last cruise, pre-Covid, June 2019, HAL Amsterdam. I  think you will find, at least on HAL, the variety of entertainment better on longer cruises. Ours are rarely less than 12 days, and the cruise in June 2019 was 14 days.

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

Certainly had those sort of entertainers on P&O.  

The last P&O cruise we were on, (Feb 2020) had one of the best ventriloquists I have seen. Standing room  only for his last  two shows. And then, of course, you have Maurice Grumbleweed - another  great solo entertainer. 

So, yes, of course there are great individual entertainers out there. But will the cruise lines pay them enough  to make it worth their while? 

 

 

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, George C said:

Definitely agree on Oasis class is the best,  we were also pleasantly surprised of quality of the entertainment in MSC , even better if you were in yacht club.

So the yacht club has it's own separate entertainment ?

[George C]

1 minute ago, Ashland said:

So the yacht club has it's own separate entertainment ?

Yes I was really surprised they had live music in there lounge from about 5 pm to 11pm. Either a single guitar player or a duo , so two or three acts would do a hour on and a hour off each night , plus you could see all acts on rest of the ship. What we really liked was dining room was right above the lounge so we had live music while eating dinner at least we did on the seaside.

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

…

 

So, yes, of course there are great individual entertainers out there. But will the cruise lines pay them enough  to make it worth their while? 

 

 

Why would anyone think that cruise lines which are continually trying to find ways to improve the bottom line by cutting things like food quality, live music, steward service, etc. be interested in paying more money to hire better entertainers?  That approach is certainly unlikely to appear in the business plans of the mass market providers: Carnival Corp.’s  or Royal Caribbean or NCL’s fleets.

[Cruzaholic41]

Royal Caribbean Oasis Class has the best entertainment at sea and is much more varied than what you were even asking for. 

Despite the fictional post right before mine, RCL has continued to improve their entertainment over the years. I could also say the same for NCL’s newer ships. 

[Hlitner]

11 hours ago, George C said:

Yes I was really surprised they had live music in there lounge from about 5 pm to 11pm. Either a single guitar player or a duo , so two or three acts would do a hour on and a hour off each night , plus you could see all acts on rest of the ship. What we really liked was dining room was right above the lounge so we had live music while eating dinner at least we did on the seaside.

When we have cruised in the YC we always had evening live music in our dedicated lounge.  The groups (always solo or duos) were generally classical or some other type of laid back music.  Those of us in the YC were always free to leave our separate section of the ship and head out to the masses where there was always a variety of other musical entertainment.  MSC does not have comedians (that would not work because of the multi-language demographics of the passengers).  For the main shows (held every night in their huge main theater) you would always get something akin to an international variety show handled by a large in-house cast.

 

Hank

[Joebucks]

I'm not so sure comedians went away. The cruises I have been on have been loaded with them. 2 most nights on Carnival. Every once in a while, I've seen a solo entertainer. Not all the time though.

  

9 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Why would anyone think that cruise lines which are continually trying to find ways to improve the bottom line by cutting things like food quality, live music, steward service, etc. be interested in paying more money to hire better entertainers?  That approach is certainly unlikely to appear in the business plans of the mass market providers: Carnival Corp.’s  or Royal Caribbean or NCL’s fleets.

 

The bottom line isn't always about cuts. If that was the case, they wouldn't have any entertainment at all and pocket the money. People would stop cruising as the nights would be very boring. It's always about bang for the buck in your investment. While people piss and moan about cutbacks, the things cut were generally proven to not be important to a significant number of people. 

[George C]

We also do music charters which target the type of music you may like , we do rock and romance which is 70’s music (my wife’s favorite) there is also 60’s , 80’s , country, disco etc lots of fun , some of the artists are in rock and roll hall of fame these are not cheap.

[lenquixote66]

On 5/28/2021 at 2:13 PM, billdadm said:

Will ships ever have the varied types of shows that they had years ago? There used to be comedians, ventriliquists, and soloists. Seems like now it's all the ship cast.

My wife and I were in an Italian restaurant in our area a few years ago .We recognized a singer there from a cruise we were on about 10 years prior. When he was through for the night I walked over to him and told him how much we enjoyed listening to him as well as on the cruise ship.He said that the cruise lines are no longer bringing in singers because they hire people to work and entertain on the ships.I have a friend who has a band that appears in concerts all over the world.I told him about my conversation with the singer.He said that one of the cruise lines offered to hire his band ,offered much less than in previous years and wanted him and the band members to work on the ship as well.That is what you see on the ships.

Edited May 29, 2021 by lenquixote66

[Pudgesmom]

17 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Why would anyone think that cruise lines which are continually trying to find ways to improve the bottom line by cutting things like food quality, live music, steward service, etc. be interested in paying more money to hire better entertainers?  That approach is certainly unlikely to appear in the business plans of the mass market providers: Carnival Corp.’s  or Royal Caribbean or NCL’s fleets.

As long as people purchase only the cheapest fare they can find, airlines and cruise lines will continue to cut back on services and/or make more items purchased a la carte.

[Hlitner]

39 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

As long as people purchase only the cheapest fare they can find, airlines and cruise lines will continue to cut back on services and/or make more items purchased a la carte.

Au Contraire!    So I have a suggestion.  The next time you go out to buy a new car you should be sure to pay the sticker price because if you negotiate a lower price the quality of the car will decline.  And when you buy an airline ticket make sure you buy the highest price non-restrictive fare (often twice the price of restricted fares most folks buy) so that they hire better pilots.  

  

Your post turns basic economics on its back.  In your world you would go to the Supermarket and always purchase the most expensive item (among similar items).  or why buy a $15 bottle of wine when you can buy a $150 bottle of wine.  And then the wine shop might just charge you $150 for that $15 bottle the next time you come in the shop.

 

Hank

 

[Pudgesmom]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Au Contraire!    So I have a suggestion.  The next time you go out to buy a new car you should be sure to pay the sticker price because if you negotiate a lower price the quality of the car will decline.  And when you buy an airline ticket make sure you buy the highest price non-restrictive fare (often twice the price of restricted fares most folks buy) so that they hire better pilots.  

  

Your post turns basic economics on its back.  In your world you would go to the Supermarket and always purchase the most expensive item (among similar items).  or why buy a $15 bottle of wine when you can buy a $150 bottle of wine.  And then the wine shop might just charge you $150 for that $15 bottle the next time you come in the shop.

 

Hank

 

I disagree completely on the economics. You have misunderstood my post. I said that if consumers buy on price alone, quality of product will suffer . You are the one who misunderstands market forces. What one person buys makes no difference whatsoever in the pricing of goods and services It’s what the market of consumers will pay. 

I’m more familiar with the airlines so I’ll use that example. (Deregulation plays into this as well, but that’s another story) 

 

So, In the 70’s, airlines offered lots of space, full course meals and excellent service. Then, Southwest Airlines launched its low fare, no frills approach and people flocked there for the lower prices. The marketing department constantly surveyed passengers to see if they would like a meal. Yes! Was the resounding answer. And then, would you pay an extra $10? No way. 

And so began the price wars. Little by little to save costs, airlines increased the seats per row, put more rows on the planes, decreased meal and other services. The reason? All the market wanted was the cheapest price between A and B. And so the airlines continued to cut costs by cutting services and adding charges like bag fees and food for purchase. 
Internet pricing spelled the end of competition over anything but lowest price. The market forces of particularly economy consumers meant that no airline could sell seats by increasing services and fares. 

The same thing has happened with the mass market cruises. More crowding, more a la carte pricing and poorer service with decreased employees per passenger. Then the lines can continue to offer ever lower prices . 
 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Pudgesmom

[Hlitner]

30 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

I disagree completely on the economics. You have misunderstood my post. I said that if consumers buy on price alone, quality of product will suffer . You are the one who misunderstands market forces. What one person buys makes no difference whatsoever in the pricing of goods and services It’s what the market of consumers will pay. 

I’m more familiar with the airlines so I’ll use that example. (Deregulation plays into this as well, but that’s another story) 

 

So, In the 70’s, airlines offered lots of space, full course meals and excellent service. Then, Southwest Airlines launched its low fare, no frills approach and people flocked there for the lower prices. The marketing department constantly surveyed passengers to see if they would like a meal. Yes! Was the resounding answer. And then, would you pay an extra $10? No way. 

And so began the price wars. Little by little to save costs, airlines increased the seats per row, put more rows on the planes, decreased meal and other services. The reason? All the market wanted was the cheapest price between A and B. And so the airlines continued to cut costs by cutting services and adding charges like bag fees and food for purchase. 
Internet pricing spelled the end of competition over anything but lowest price. The market forces of particularly economy consumers meant that no airline could sell seats by increasing services and fares. 

The same thing has happened with the mass market cruises. More crowding, more a la carte pricing and poorer service with decreased employees per passenger. Then the lines can continue to offer ever lower prices . 
 

Ok, so lets use your airline example.  You are correct that competition on domestic flights caused services to decrease as consumers made it clear they preferred lower prices to an airline meal.  So yes, many of us chose to "fly for peanuts" and save hundreds of dollars.  On the other hand, the services on longer International flights improved (in a major way) for those willing to pay the big bucks.  When I fly Biz Class on long International flights I now get nice lay flat seats, multi course meals, great service, top shelf booze, decent wine, etc.  If I prefer to count my pennies I can choose lower cost economy, be packed in like a sardine, suffer for a few hours, and save lots of money.  The choice is mine.  Like cruise ships the airlines are simply providing what folks choose.  

 

But now the cruise ship business model (for some mass market lines) has changed in a way similar to airlines.  So on many ships you can choose lower cost cabins with diminished services, or pay more money for a better cabin, better food, better services, and even better facilities (the so called ship within a ship or "suite life,")  The choice is up to the consumer.  Because many of us began to reject your kind of world where folks paid different prices (for their cabin size and location) but got essentially the same food, entertainment and services.  We are moving back to a class system where folks make a choice of what level they want and pay the price.  When I am on MSC in the Yacht Club my experience is completely different then another person paying 1/2 my price.  But we are both getting what we choose.  The cheapest cabin does not hurt the service I get in the higher category....as we are both getting the value for which we pay.

 

But the important lesson is that if the cruise line fails to measure up to the overall value (for price) that I expect, I simply do not book that line in the future and move on to other lines.  That is why we have not cruised on Celebrity in over 5 years.  It went from our favorite line to low on our list because of what I call the "death by a thousand cut-backs."   But for me it was no biggie as we simply made the choice to cruise different lines.  If and when Celebrity again changes we may well be back.

 

Hank

[Pudgesmom]

Ok then, I see you do understand economics. Not sure why you felt the need to dispute me previously. Maybe you did not read my first post completely.
 

Luxury products (international business and first class to a greater extent and luxury cruise lines ) operate on a completely different economic model than the one I was discussing.